The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, translated by Lucia Graves

The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Translated by Lucia Graves (Spanish)
First published 2002, I read 2005 Phoenix paperback
510 pages, gothic romance, mystery, adventure
Found: super cheap at the Kochi Book Fair 2015

A bookseller takes his 11-year-old son Daniel to a very special place: a hidden building in Barcelona where there is a collection of lost, neglected, or forgotten books. As a privilege of visiting for the first time, Daniel is allowed to choose one book to take with him. He chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax, which quickly becomes his favorite novel.

But when he tries to find out more about this author, mystery arises. Julian Carax is unknown, and it is believed that he died shortly after the War. And then there is the faceless man who is searching for Daniel’s prized copy with the intention of burning it and any other copy of Carax’s work that appears - and who has taken on the name of a character from The Shadow of the Wind who is the Devil incarnate.

Master storytelling in the vein of nineteenth-century novels

Zafón’s work is quite obviously inspired by the best of 1800s literature. He combines an incredible feel for gothic-style literary tension with a gorgeous, poetic writing style that left me enthralled. While leisurely at first, the pace quickly picks up and drags the reader along, wondering what will happen next.

There is grand adventure around every corner in this novel. Haunted houses, magical libraries of forgotten books, and blind love interests - anyone who loves The Count of Monte Cristo or other large-hearted adventure novels will love this book as well.

A Legend of the Future by Agustín de Rojas, translated by Nick Caistor

A Legend of the Future
Agustín de Rojas
Translated by Nick Caistor (Spanish)
Original published 1985, I read ebook of 2014 translation
227 pages, hard science fiction

Many thanks to Restless Books for providing a review copy of this novel, part of their Cuban Science Fiction series. 

A tight-knit crew of six cosmonauts has embarked on the cutting-edge ship Sviagator. Their mission: explore Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, and return the experimental ship safely to Earth. When disaster strikes, only three crewmembers survive: Isanusi, the captain, who is physically incapacitated; Thondup, an engineer and psycho-sociologist, who is emotionally fragile after the death of his partner Alix; and Gema, a physiologist whose conditioning has been activated so now she has all the skills of a computer. All three of them are dying, some more quickly than others. Now they need to figure out how to return the ship to Earth, without autopilot and without any of them being able to survive the three months required to make the trip.

Philosophy, politics, psycho-sociology

This book involves a lot of sitting around talking. Granted, due to their assorted physical disabilities there’s not much else the crew can do at this point, but it struck me as incredibly wordy. This sometimes passed into being really boring. There are a few themes that keep appearing, and which provide the majority of the plot:

First, the novel explicitly touches on the philosophical question of man vs. machine. Even though Thondup activated Gema’s conditioning, he doesn’t approve of it; he believes she has been made into a computer. Isanusi does not agree. Gema spends much of her time trying to combine her new personality with pieces of the old one, but the question still remains about whether she is actually a human being anymore. If you read a lot of science fiction (particularly older works), this is nothing that you haven't seen before.

The King and Queen of Comezón by Denise Chávez

The King and Queen of Comezón

Denise Chávez

2014, I read paperback edition

309 pages, character study, psychological

Thank you to the University of Oklahoma Press for providing a review copy of this book, part of the Chicana & Chicano Visions of the Américas series.

It is really important to me to include works by marginalized writers from the United States on this blog. I think it sends the wrong impression to only feature novels from “foreign” countries, whether in translation or in English; this blog is about the global diversity of literature and film,  including the native diversity in the US. That is why I have chosen to include this book by a major Chicana writer.

In Comezón, a small town on the Mexico-New Mexico border, everyone has some comezón – a yearning for something that will never happen. In this series of interconnected character studies, the author examines what each individual wants – and what, exactly, is keeping them from getting it.

The main focus is on the dysfunctional Olivárez family. Arnulfo, the aging father, is slowly (and quietly) dying of lung disease and alcoholism but continues to take the stage as master of ceremonies at the local Mexican-American festivals of Cinco de Mayo and 16^th September. His wife, Doña Emilia, is disabled and cannot control Arnulfo, but she has the patience of an angel even when he doesn’t deserve it. Their daughter, Juliana, though bound to a wheelchair, has a rich inner life of reading and painting and a hidden love for the local Spanish priest. Arnulfo’s daughter by an affair, Lucinda, knows that she doesn’t quite fit into the family and wants to escape as soon as possible, running away with the son of Comezón’s Chief of Police. And then there is Isá, the housekeeper, cook, and best friend of Doña Emilia who also helps take care of Juliana.

With these and other characters from the town, the author takes us on a journey into the trials and tribulations – and loves and passions – of a small town on the Mexican border.

The Orphanage, directed by J. A. Bayona

The Orphanage (El Orfanato)

Spain (Spanish), 2007

105 min, drama, thriller, horror

Directed by J. A. Bayona

Starring Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, and Roger Príncep

For Halloween, I thought I would review one of the most terrifying movies I've ever seen. 

Laura returns to the now-abandoned orphanage where she spent her childhood, planning to open a home for disabled children with her doctor husband, Carlos. They bring along their son, Simón who doesn't yet know that he is HIV positive and adopted. 

Soon after arriving in their new home, Simón begins acting strangely. He suddenly has new, invisible friends, who reveal the secret of his adoption and his illness to him. After a fight with his mother during their business's opening party, Simón disappears. Laura will stop at nothing to find her son, and in the process discovers the secrets hiding behind her childhood in this house.

A Planet for Rent by Yoss, translated by David Frye

A Planet for Rent
Yoss (José Miguel Sánchez)
Translated by David Frye (Spanish)
First published 2011, I read English language ebook 2014
266 pages,  hard science fiction, satire

Many thanks to Restless Books for providing a review copy of this novel. 

I first heard about the Cuban Science Fiction series from Restless Books sometime earlier this year (probably in this New York Times article). Immediately, I knew that I had to read and review them. Here is a chance to read international science fiction, my favorite genre, that had been completely off my radar. This book is the first I have read from the series, and it did not disappoint.

The novel tells several intertwined stories, featuring characters that are loosely related through mostly random events. Yoss does not bother to flesh out the connections between the characters, instead relying on the reader to figure that out for themselves. This trust in the reader's intelligence was quite refreshing, and it also made the satirical aspects of the story more apparent. It also made the ending harder to predict; for the first time in a long time, I was actually surprised by a book! This may have been because I was reading an ebook, which always makes it a bit more difficult for me to follow the story and pick up on clues.

The basic background is that aliens have *cough* invaded the earth, and taken complete control, forcing humans to be second-class citizens solely used for the purpose of bringing (mostly sexual) pleasure to the xenoid tourists. *cough* Sorry, I must be coming down with a cold or something. As I was saying, aliens have saved humanity by restoring the environment and bringing peace to the planet, making it a very safe place for tourists to visit.

XXY directed by Lucia Puenzo

XXY
Argentina (Spanish), 2007
86 min, drama, sexual exploration, intersex, LGBT
Directed by Lucia Puenzo

Trigger warning for discussion of sexual violence. 

Alex, a young intersex person who has been raised female, lives with her mother, Suli, and her father, Nestor, in a small village on the Uruguayan seaside. (The movie uses female pronouns for Alex, so I do too.) When Alex reaches the age of 15, Suli invites some friends from Argentina to visit. What Alex's father doesn't know is that the husband of Suli's friend is a well-known surgeon known for doing sex-change surgeries. Suli has asked them to come as a secretive consultation about Alex.

Alex is uncomfortable with her mother's plan, and has secretly stopped taking the hormone pills prescribed to make her body look more female. When the other family arrives, she confronts their teenage son, Alvaro, asking him to have sex with her. When he refuses, she later imitates it again and they end up having anal sex with Alex as the penetrative partner. Nestor catches a glimpse of this activity. Not knowing how to respond, he seeks the advice of the friendly neighborhood intersex person, who is married and runs a gas station.

Meanwhile, rumors about Alex's unusual genitals (she has both male and female reproductive organs) are starting to spread - started, it seems, by her former best friend. Before the start of the film, she had confronted him about it and broken his nose, leading her to be suspended from school. As Alex is walking along the beach, a group of bullies arrives and assaults her. They pin her down and open her shorts to reveal her genitals. She is only saved from being gang raped by the arrival of her former best friend, who had realized what was happening and arrives to help.

In the aftermath of this sexual assault, Alex must choose whether to tell her story to the police or continue to hide who she is. What will she decide?

Sirena Selena by Mayra Santos-Febres, translated by Stephen A. Lytle

Sirena Selena
Mayra Santos-Febres
Translated by Stephen A. Lytle (from Spanish)
First published 2001, I read kindle version
224 pages, LGBT+, drama

Miss Martha Divine, an old veteran of the Drag Queen scene in New York and Puerto Rico, has found her ticket to glory: a 15-year-old with a voice like an angel, who takes on the artist name of Sirena Selena. Miss Martha takes her young protege to the neighboring Dominican Republic, in an attempt to sell the act to one of the fancy tourist hotels there - where they won't mind that the performer is underage.

After seeing Sirena Selena's audition, one very wealthy businessman, Hugo Graubel, is captivated by the young star - in her enchanting performance, he thinks that he has finally found the person that he can love "as I have always wanted to love a woman" (p. 175). Filled with desire, Hugo arranges to have Sirena Selena come to his house, to perform for his business associates at a dinner he will be throwing later that week. His wife, unsatisfied with her husband's continued disinterest in her, is not pleased to have a travesti in the house. Hugo doesn't care what his wife thinks; even if she decides to divorce him over it, he just wants to have Sirena Selena for his very own.

Interspersed with Miss Martha Divine's reminiscences about the gay scene in Puerto Rico and New York and a tangentially related look at the friendship between two young boys, this novel questions the stability of gender, sexuality, and dress in the hot Caribbean world of travestis.

Man Facing Southeast directed by Eliseo Subiela

Man Facing Southeast (Hombre Mirando al Sudeste) 
Argentina (Spanish), 1986
105 min, drama, science fiction, suspense
Directed by Eliseo Subiela

An unhappy, disillusioned psychiatrist finds a real challenge when a strange man appears in the mental institution without warning, declaring that he is from another planet and has come here to study humanity. The psychiatrist can find nothing wrong with him, apart from the fact that he says he's an alien. But what if this is actually true? What then?

He decides not to give him any medicines or otherwise give him psychiatric treatment, since this delusion (if it is one) is harmless. When the man's female friend appears, the psychiatrist is confused and wants to get to the bottom of who this apparent alien is. But she says that she doesn't know either. Then, after the psychiatrist falls in love with the woman, she informs him that she is also an alien, but that she has gone astray by focusing too much on the pleasures of the flesh.

This is considered by many to be a classic of South American science fiction. But how does it hold up?

Answer: not very well.

This film demonstrates some of the worst qualities of 1980s movies. The pacing is excruciatingly slow, the voiceovers are unnecessary, the minimal amount of dialogue and long shots of the psychiatrist playing his saxophone (?) do not add anything to the film. Yes, the theory behind this film is interesting - but its execution is not good.

The plot becomes even more confusing when it tries to make a connection between this purported alien and Jesus. So, is he an alien or is he Jesus? Was Jesus an alien? I did not find this question compelling, especially because it was rather clumsily added into the story. It would have been better if the director had stuck to the question of whether he is an alien and what that signifies for the story, rather than bringing in a forced religious angle.

From another angle, the film is an awkward critique of mental health methods in the 1980s. This part makes a bit more sense: since this man isn't hurting anyone, was it really necessary to give him medicines and shock therapy? No! Of course not. But the additional Christ imagery just serves to distract the audience from what could have been an effective critique of mental health care at the time.

All in all, I was disappointed by this classic of Argentinian film. If you want to watch a better movie that raises similar questions, I suggest the classic Man From Earth, in which a college professor may or may not be a caveman who has been alive for thousands of years. And Jesus. And if you want to watch a better Argentinian film, please do watch Nine Queens, a brilliant con film with a crazy twist ending. Just don't waste your time watching this one.

Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on Twitter or like The Globally Curious's facebook page!

By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, translated by Jethro Soutar

Source: Goodreads

By Night the Mountain Burns
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel
Translated by Jethro Soutar (from Spanish)
2014, I read ebook version
288 pages, oral history, ethnography, tragedy

Told in the style of an oral history, a man from a small island near Africa recounts stories of his childhood, especially a series of terrible events that happened during a few years. These include a major fire, famine, shortages due to lack of trade, an epidemic, and the murder of a woman accused of being a witch. He focuses on the impact all of these events had upon life on the island and, in so doing, provides a detailed ethnographic description of the island's population.

An important character is the narrator's silent grandfather, who never leaves the second floor of their house and who barely speaks to anyone. This mysterious grandfather spends all of his time sitting on the balcony and staring at the island's mountain, which is even stranger since the sea (which is very important in this society) is nearby and in the opposite direction.

I did not know that Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa. I'm happy that & Other Stories Press decided to publish this novel to give international exposure to one of Equatorial Guinea's major writers.

In the Beginning Was the Sea by Tomás González, translated by Frank Wynne

Source: Goodreads

In the Beginning Was the Sea
Tomás González
Translated by Frank Wynne (from Spanish)
2014, I read Kindle edition
224 pages, relationship, escape to the land

Tired of the rushed, partying atmosphere of the city, a bourgeois couple moves to a run-down estate on the beach in rural Colombia. Here they can finally relax and get back in touch with nature, running a productive and self-sufficient farm. But is this retreat everything that they thought it would be?

As their idea of what the countryside would be like flounders, J. and Elena find themselves stuck in an untenable living situation. Nerves fray, fights break out, alcohol becomes the only way to escape. The local inhabitants do not live up to the expectations of the city people. It's a slow descent into chaos: never mind their relationship, will J. and Elena be able to escape with their lives intact?

Darkly humorous and based on a true story, this novel demonstrates the problems with assuming that a return to nature will solve all of your problems.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Edith Grossman

Source: Goodreads

Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014)
Translated by Edith Grossman (from Spanish)
Originally 1985, I read Vintage International 2003
348 pages, historical fiction, romance

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fell in love through letters and glances. After they meet and Fermina Daza decides that she doesn't love him after all, Florentino Ariza is devastated. He decides to preserve himself and wait for the time when Fermina Daza is available again - when her husband dies.

Florentino Ariza spends decades having affairs, moving upwards in the hierarchy of his uncle's company, and brooding over his continuing love for his childhood sweetheart. Fermina Daza spends decades traveling, raising children, and caring for her husband, a renowned doctor and center of attention in the local high-class society.

When Fermina Daza's husband dies, Florentino Ariza takes advantage of the opportunity that is finally available to him. But how will Fermina Daza, ever the strong and emotional character, react to his reassertion of his love in the wake of her tragedy?

Read a sample or buy from Amazon: 

Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club)

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, translated by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen

Source: Goodreads

Like Water for Chocolate
A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies
Laura Esquivel
Translated by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen (from Spanish)
Originally 1989, I read 1994
241 pages, magical realism, romance

Tita enters the world on a wave of tears, prophetic of the difficult life ahead of her. Tita's mother, the narcissistic, overbearing matriarch of the family, bans her from marrying; as the youngest daughter, she is required to take care of her mother until death. When her eldest sister marries Tita's beloved, Tita retires to the kitchen, using food to express her barely-restrained emotions.

A beautiful example of magical realism, Like Water for Chocolate combines the real magic of good food and romance with the tall tales of family legends.

Read a sample or buy from Amazon:
Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies

Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens), directed by Fabian Bielinsky

Source: IMDB

Nueve Reinas 
Argentina (Spanish), 2000
114 min, crime thriller
Director: Fabian Bielinsky

The con artist's big break

Marcos, an experienced con artist, takes on the young, inexperienced Juan as an apprentice for a day. A call from Marcos's estranged sister gives them a lead to a big opportunity - a forger has created an exact duplicate of a rare set of stamps, the Nine Queens, which he was trying to sell to a stamp collecting, exiled diplomat who will leave the country the next day. When Marcos comes into possession of the stamps, he engages Juan's help to pull off the con. But as the difficulty increases and obstacles keep falling in their way, it becomes more and more difficult to determine who, exactly, is conning who.

Watch the full video on Youtube:

Buy it from Amazon: 

Nine Queens